Annette Gates Symbiosis

Transcription

1 f Annette Gates Symbiosis Article by Andy Nasisse Arborescent (detail). Porcelain ivall sculptures

2 ,1 ' '.', ñ ti -*' Daughter Colony. Porcelain wall sculpture. ILLUMINATED BY SOFT DfFFUSED LIGHTING, ANNETTE Gates' installahon of five large groupings of white porcelain wall pieces arranged on white gallery walls give an initial perception of subtle minimalism. On closer inspection, the individual units reveal richly textured, semi-translucent evocative forms that draw comparison between the microcosm and the macrocosm, between natural processes and human social interactions, and between intimate personal experience and profound expressions of the universal condition. Comprised of 16 to 30 hand-sized, handformed or slipcast units, each piece is inspired by the survival systems of various microscopic phenomena. Ranging in scale up to 2 m (6 ft) in diameter, the juxtapositions of individual units suggest a process of growth, reproduction, cell division, ingestion, absorption and synthesis within living systems. These natural processes are controlled or triggered electro-chemically by unseen forces, perhaps the same or similar forces that control our own lives and human soda! systems. Gates suggests this connection in her exhibition statement: "The work explores aspects of living in colonies: the family as colony, the role of the individual in a colony, and the concept of shared domain and resources." Speaking about the microscopic-form references, she says: "Unseen by the naked eye, exceptionally complex and visually compelling, the role of protozoa and other single cell organisms are potentially crucial for the future of human and planetary environmental survival." In one piece titled Integra} Domain, a handbuilt grouping of four colonies of small pieces that explore varied physical relationships such as dispersion, emergence, clustering and clumping, are meant to parallel similar emotional and physical relationships in human families. In Aborescertt a tree-like form is made up of 16 units that reflect cell division and reference the notion of passing cellular material down through infinite generations, leaving each of us with traces of material from the beginning of life on the planet. Gates writes: "To me this provides a bridge "10 Ceramics: Art and Percepiion No

3 Above and right: Integral Domain (detail). 46 x 36 cm. from the microsœpic to the cosmic, and profoundly ties together the seen and unseen." Almost everyone who works with clay has an affection for and fascination with the material and the process of traasforming a thing of transient substance into an object of ultimate permanence. About 10 years ago Gates, a vegetarian, began using various vegetables and edible roots covered with non-shrinking paperctay and then fired, leaving an enigmatic form with surface carbonisation resulting from the burning out of the original vegetable. The act of encasing her food with the material of her art brought her into an intimacy and relevancy that gave meaning and content to the process, with the resulting object becoming a fossilised record of the ritualised technique. This same level of poetic process is found in the most striking installation. Daughter Colony. Thirty slipcast porcelain pieces are arranged in a 2 m (6 ft) diameter spiraling form that Gates describes as a mothering process in which some kind of cell division or emergence is taking place. Each individual piece is created from Ceramics: Art and Perception No

4 Daughter Colony (detail). Porcelain wall piece. textured fabrics cut from the discarded garments worn by her two-year-old daughter, her husband, her sister, her mother, father and her grandmother. Each piece is made up of multiple textured fabrics, sewn together in the form of a microscopic organism in the process of reproduction. Gates then fills the form with kernels of rice, resulting in a sort of cosmic beanbag. This is then carefully wrapped with masking tape, leaving a hole through which the rice can be poured out and porcelain slip can be poured in. This leaves a tapebound bundle wliich, after firing and burning out, becomes an object that is a textured cast of the inside shape of the form made from the actual clothes of her family members. She is literally creating something from the inside out. Notwithstanding that the goal of this process is to make a meaningful art object, the thinking that must have led Gates to invent this techniqlie reveals a belief in the power of objects and the magic of the patina of use. With Symbiosis, Gates explores her interest in the aesthetic dimension of science, creating ceramic forms and installations that focus on what she sees as the profound poetic implications inherent in our understanding of nature's processes. Her personal investigations lead to universal conclusions, She encourages us to question the relationship between opposites such as the microcosm and the macrocosm, between who we are as individuals and who we are as a society. She suggests that our perception of opposition in nature is an illusion, and that we are essentially till part of an interdependent whole, guided by a universal principle. Annette Gates has a delicate and sensitive feel for the material, combined with the ability to invest the gallery space with visual presence as well as meaningful content. The work makes sense within the postmodern framework but derives its n^al power in the eccentric personal quest to use the art-making process as an act of devotion to family, both persona! and collective. This is a major accomplishment by an artist who gives us a fresh, unique and mature experience. Andy Nasisse is ceramic arfist arid Emeritus Professor from Ihe University of Georia's Lamar Dcidid Schoul of Art. S}iml'iosis was.i soio exhibition by Annetfe Bates iit the Kiang (Jallery in Atlanta, Georgia, US. 12 Ceramics: Art and Perception No

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